James Welford GRIFFIN (1888–1917)
James Welford Griffin was born in Brill, Buckinghamshire in 1888, the son of James Francis Griffin (born in Brill in 1857, registered Thame district third quarter) and Maria Agnes Frances Welford (born in Brill in 1861, registered Thame district third quarter).
His parents were married in the Bicester Registration District in the fourth quarter of 1881 and had ten children:
- John Francis Griffin (born in Boarstall, near Brill in 1882, registered Bicester district second quarter)
- Annie Welford Griffin (born in Boarstall, near Brill in 1883, registered Bicester district third quarter)
- Florence Maria Griffin (born in Boarstall, near Brill in 1884, registered Bicester district fourth quarter)
- Daisy Mary Griffin (born in Brill in 1886, registered Thame district third quarter)
- James Welford Griffin (born in Brill in 1888, registered Thame district third quarter)
- Alice Welford Griffin (born in Brill in 1892, registered Thame district second quarter)
- Ethel Welford Griffin (born in Brill in 1895, registered Thame district third quarter)
- William Norcott Griffin (born in Brill in 1897, registered Thame district second quarter)
- Dorothy Griffin (born in Kentish Town, London in 1899, registered Thame district second quarter); died in Bray, Berkshire at the age of 2 (registered second quarter of 1901)
- Thomas Capel Griffin (born in Grazeley, Berkshire in 1902/3, registered Wokingham district first quarter of 1903).
At the time of the 1881 census James’s father James Francis Griffin, aged 23, was working for his widowed father, John Griffin (born in Piddington in 1823/4) who farmed the 198 acres of Brillbury Hall Farm at Upper Cross Road in Brill with the help of six labourers and one boy. Meanwhile his mother Maria Welford, aged 19, was living in Boarstall village as a general assistant to her 83-year-old aunt Miss Anne Welford, who employed a man to look after her 35 acres of grazing land.
James’ parents appear to have started off their married life later in 1881 in nearby Boarstall, possibly with Maria’s aunt, but by 1886 had moved back to live on his grandfather’s farm, and can be seen there in the 1891 census with their children John (8), Florence (6), Daisy (4), and James Welford Griffin himself (1). Annie (7) was staying with her widowed grandmother, Mrs Mary Welford (71) in High Street, Brill. Both James’s father and grandfather were described in the census as farmers and employers.
Two years later near the end of 1893 James’s grandfather John Griffin died at the age of 70, and the fortune of his parents soon changed. At some point between 1897 and 1899 they appear to have moved to Kentish Town in London.
By the time of the 1901 census they were back in Buckinghamshire, in Touchen End (a hamlet of Bray). James’s father (44) was now working as a publican, and the family was living over the pub. Seven of their children were at home: Annie (17), Daisy (15), James (11), Alice (9), Ethel (5), William (4), and Dorothy (1). The two missing children are John (18), who was in Eton working as a butcher’s assistant, and Florence (16), who was in Paddington working as nursemaid to a barrister’s family.
By the beginning of 1903 the family appear to have moved to Grazeley in Berkshire, where their youngest child was born.
By the time of the 1911 census James (22) had left home, and was boarding in Cambridge Street, St Neots in the house of coalyard foreman Charles Jones. He is described as a “Single Handed Butler”. Meanwhile parents were living at Walter’s Farm in Tiddington, Oxfordshire, and his father (53) now described himself as a retired farmer. Only three children were still at home: Alice (19), Ethel (15), and Thomas (8). The five siblings of James not at home were John (28); Annie (27), who was a live-in help of a lady and her daughter in Banbury; Florence (26), who was married; Daisy (24), who was the housekeeper of the farmer William Tombs in Chiselhampton; and William (14), who was a patient at the Oxford Eye Hospital in Walton Street.
Soon after the census James’s parents, James and Maria Griffin, moved to the top end of Lime Walk (the new part then known as “Britannia Road”) in Highfield parish, and James’s father is listed as a private resident there in directories from 1913.
On 12 September 1912 James W. Griffin (24), described as a labourer, emigrated to Canada, sailing on the Virginian from Liverpool to Quebec.
James Welford Griffin served as a Private in the 8th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment) (Service No. 437816). He died in France at the age of 28 on 24 July 1917 and is buried at the Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay (II.G.13). He is listed on the Roll of Honour of All Saints’ Church, Highfield.
Above: Griffin, James Welford is remembered on page 248
of the Veterans Affairs Canada, First World War Book of Remembrance
Postscript
James’s parents
- Mrs Maria Agnes Frances Griffin died at “Britannia Road” (top end of Lime Walk) at the age of 57 and was buried in Headington Cemetery on 16 October 1918.
- James Francis Griffin continued to be listed in directories as living in Lime Walk until 1921. He then appears to have moved back to Boarstall near Brill in Buckinghamshire, probably to live with family.
James’s siblings
- John Francis Griffin (born 1882) became a butcher at 72 Addison Road, Guildford. In the second quarter of 1915 he married Elizabeth Georgina Fudge in Hampshire (South Stoneham registration district), and they had their son James Francis Fudge Griffin baptised at All Saints’ Church on 18 November 1917.
- Alice Welford Griffin (born 1892) married Frederick John Arnold Harding at All Saints’ Church on 4 June 1917.
- Daisy May Griffin (born 1886) married John Hall at All Saints’ Church on 20 June 1921.
See also
- CWGC: James Welford Griffin (age given as 27 instead of 28)
- Genealogy of Griffin and Welford families
- Canada at War